What could be better than a picnic on a cool Autumn evening with The Florida Orchestra in concert under the stars, completed by fireworks over a nearby body of water?
Two such evening concerts, you say? That's precisely what The Florida Orchestra has planned — at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, in Vinoy Park, and at 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, in Curtis Hixon Park.
Maestro Thomas Wilkins, in his eighth season as Resident Conductor of The Florida Orchestra, conducts the identical programs, which include: Slavonic Dance by Dvorak, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 and Duke Ellington Fantasy, an Ellington medley.
Throughout his conducting career, Wilkins has been featured with orchestras throughout the United States, and is a frequent guest conductor for the Baltimore Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra.
And with the orchestra in such capable hands, the only remaining variables are the weather, what you pack in your picnic basket and the warmth of your chosen blanket.
All the organizers ask is that you bring canned food items to support Tampa Bay Harvest.
Vinoy Park is at the east end of Fifth Avenue North, three blocks north of The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg. Curtis Hixon Park is at Ashley Drive and Zack Street, on the Hillsborough River in Tampa. Call 813-286-1170.
www.floridaorchestra.org/ FreeConcerts.html.
This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2001.